Nov 3 1980
From The Space Library
NASA said that Dr. Floyd W. Stecker of GSFC had found evidence to suggest that subatomic particles called neutrinos might have mass, redefining the nature of all matter and the ultimate fate of the universe. Observations of rocket-launch results had detected a spectral line that might mean neutrino. decay near the UV wavelength of 0.00017 mm. Neutrinos were previously thought to lack mass, like photons. In the "Big Bang" theory, an explosion of all matter in the universe 15 billion years ago formed galaxies that continued to expand away from the original site. The theory suggested roughly a billion neutrinos for every proton (protons, the nuclei of hydrogen atoms, made up 90% of the atoms in the universe).
If Stecker's findings were correct, a spherical area of "heavy" neutrinos created by the Big Bang would surround the galaxy; they would live so long NOT that only one in 10 million would have decayed since the time of the Big Bang. The weight of a billion would equal the weight of one nitrogen atom, but they would be so numerous that they would account for the mysterious "missing mass" in large clusters of galaxies. Absence of this mass had thwarted calculation of whether the original expansion would continue forever or would collapse on itself to produce another Big Bang. (NASA Release 80-163)
Ground testing of Space Shuttle engines suffered another setback, the New York Times reported, when three engines shut down prematurely during a static test firing in Mississippi. The engines, identical to three now on the Columbia at Cape Canaveral, were supposed to fire for 9 minutes, 41 seconds, the time it would take to put a Shuttle into orbit. NASA said that instruments indicated overheating in part of a turbopump. This 11th firing of the three engines in the test series would have been the 5th for the full time needed to launch a Shuttle. Columbia was scheduled for its maiden launch in March 1981. (NY Times, Nov 4/80, C-3)
NASA said that JPL would arrange for media coverage of Voyager 1's Saturn encounter over a 47-hour period on or about November 11-13, relaying live television to television stations, science centers, and planetariums across the United States. The Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., also planned to change its regular closing time from 5:00 to 8:30 p.m. during the encounter to handle the expected crowds and had scheduled special programs around the encounter.. (NASA Release 80-164)
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